


In The City of Dean And Cas (AKA Destieland)

by Violetlyvanilla



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 20:29:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16353749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Violetlyvanilla/pseuds/Violetlyvanilla
Summary: What Dean and Castiel did not realise was that every moment of indecision, every lost opportunity, every spark that eventuated to nothing was preserved in the multi-dimensional universes. All the little bubbles of what might have been, exist. Somehow alive and saved. And in one very special universe of confluence, all the Deans and all the Castiels who might have been find safe haven in the City of Dean and Cas.Some people call it Destieland. This is a tale from that place in which canon has no power.





	In The City of Dean And Cas (AKA Destieland)

Funny how this story starts here. Every time Dean looked at Castiel and thought of kissing him but didn't, every time Castiel watched Dean and thought of pinning him down but chouldn't, every time they shared a touch or a look or oxygen but nothing romantic happened ... in another universe, it did. And that is where we are. 

What Dean and Castiel did not realise was that every moment of indecision, every lost opportunity, every spark that eventuated to nothing was preserved in the multi-dimensional universes. All the little bubbles of what might have been, exist. Somehow alive and saved. And in one very special universe of confluence, all the Deans and all the Castiels who might have been find safe haven in the City of Dean and Cas. 

Some people call it Destieland. This is a tale from that place. 

* * * 

He was a Mechanic!Dean going about his daily business. There was a pin board over his work bench filled with polaroids. He looked happy in them, Policeman!Cas noted. There was Mechanic!Dean in enticingly oil stained jeans and workman’s vest posing with a garage full of Impalas. Here was one where Mechanic!Dean was getting a handshake from GarageOwner!Dean for being employee of the month. One photo showed him washing his car while wearing the mandatory denim cutoff shorts, a Customer!Cas looking on longingly in the background. Who could have wanted to kill such a nondescript Dean? As far as Policeman!Cas could find, this Dean did everything by the law, had a very simple personal life and absolutely no aspirations beyond getting grease under his fingers and dating the occasional client. It was odd that he had been beaten to death by a tea kettle. 

Policeman!Cas left the crime scene alone. His partner Policeman!Dean was on his honeymoon, having finally married the Stripper!Cas of his dreams. He had sent Policeman!Cas a postcard of a lurid HoolaDancer!Dean posing with coconuts and a grass skirt. Possible cultural appropriation aside, Policeman!Cas could practically smell the suntan lotion from the cardboard. Briefly, he wondered if he would ever find the one true Cas for him, but that was a question for a time when he wasn’t about to interview a witness. 

The Librarian!Cas who opened the office door was handsome and in his late forties. There was the barest touch of silver at his temples and like his counter parts Museum!Cas and Teacher!Cas, he wore a well tailored suit vest over the top of a dress shirt. His vest was jewel blue and the shirt was burgundy. Even as a dimensional incarnation of Castiel himself, Policeman!Cas was a little taken aback by the blue of his eyes. 

“I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt Mechanic!Dean,” Librarian!Cas said sipping on the peppermint tea that he had stewed to calm his nerves. “He was a lovely man. So good with his hands. He was an innocent.” 

Policeman!Cas made some vaguely sympathetic remark, then pushed for more. 

“I really couldn’t tell you about any enemies,” Librarian!Cas arched an eyebrow. “He got me a very nice vintage graphic zine for my birthday at an auction last week, cost him a pretty penny but he told me it was better to spend the money on something I really wanted than a piece of rock. Our love doesn’t need to be showcased, that kind of thing. He really was a sweet boyfriend.” 

Policeman!Cas wrote down in his note book “Thinking of getting hitched. Proposal?” 

“There was one weird thing,” Librarian!Cas said. “The other day, Mechanic!Dean was uncontactable for a few hours. He told me after that he was giving a ride to someone he found on the side of the road.” 

Policeman!Cas looked up from his notepad, trying not to stare too much lest he gave away his interest. “Was it a Dean incarnation?” 

Librarian!Cas flushed pink. “No, it was a Castiel. A Human!Cas, I think, garden variety.” 

The witness cleared his throat. “Look, we trust each other. I don’t believe in all that stuff about destiel instincts. That when a Dean meets a Cas there has to be some sort of sexual attraction. I’ve had my car serviced by Mechanic!Dean for years and he never made a move on me till I was ready. He wasn’t the sort of man to just get into a PWP without at least calling me first.” 

Policeman!Cas underlined the word ‘jealousy’ in his notebook and closed it. Librarian!Cas was still talking: “Not saying we were a Soulmates AU but our relationship was solid. There was no reason for anyone to hurt Dean.” 

The detective nodded and headed for his office. 

* * * 

The pile of paperwork on his desk made Policeman!Cas sigh. Without his partner he was really having trouble keeping his cases filed. Plus the workflow was just ridiculous coming up to Halloween. There had been three suspicious deaths in as many weeks and Mechanic!Dean was just the tip of the iceberg. 

The first case had been a Creature!Cas, found drowned in the bottom of a pool, the only injury on him was a slightly grazed forehead. Of course it was filed as suspicious, since Forensics!Dean noted the impossibly extensive bruising on the skull without any trace of hard trauma. And it couldn’t have been the water, he was a merman for fuck’s sake. 

The second case had been just as strange, of a Punk!Cas strangled by cassette tape strands. They had found a whole box of emptied out TKD cassettes, their gusts ripped out and formed into an intricate net. The web was spun over and over around Punk!Cas’ neck, it would have taken hours to achieve. 

With Halloween, arguably the most popular holiday in Destieland, looming everyone was rattled. The cases had made headline news. The thing was in a place where everyone was basically everyone else, there was little reason for crime. In fact the conventional wisdom was that any Dean or Castiel pairing, once matched, would find blissful happily ever after together. Sure you might date the wrong incarnation here and there, but at the end of the day you would eventually find your One True Pair. So Policeman!Cas and Policeman!Dean’s lives were usually full of rescuing kittens and writing tickets. This was above their pay grade. For a minute, he considered calling in the FBI!Dean and BAU!Cas but frankly they were both snooty SOBs who looked down their noses at an average incarnation like a mere cop Castiel. They were unlikely to be interested in a kettle, a head wound and likely accidental death by music from a drug addled punk!Cas who was probably trying a kink a little too hard anyway. Or so Policeman!Dean had said when he had floated the idea. 

Policeman!Cas pushed away from his desk and decided to grab lunch for now. 

The university campus three streets across had the best pretzel sandwich shop, so he headed in that direction. The college district was full of bustle, since College AUs were experiencing something of a renaissance. Policeman!Cas noticed the added foot traffic and realised he had wandered into the middle of a political protest. There were Dean and Castiels everywhere, relatively fresh faces chanting passionately as they held up signs. 

“Down with DeanCas, there are other pairings you know!” Shouted a Nerd!Cas in his ear. 

Policeman!Cas turned around and saw the speaker was flanked by a Jock!Dean (he was wearing college football gear) and a Nerd!Dean (basically Dean in a hipster hat). The three of them linked arms. 

“Yeah, the three of us are OT3, can you handle that old man?” Said the one in the baker-boy hat. 

Policeman!Cas shrugged. “I’m just here for the bagels.” 

“He’s kind of cute,” said the Jock!Dean. “Hey man, wanna make it a foursome?” 

“I don’t have time for monopoly.” Policeman!Cas said after thinking about it for minute. 

Someone laughed loudly behind them. The police officer turned around to see a particularly good looking Dean smiling at him. Of course all Dean were perfectly identical to each other, but after spending a lifetime in this universe you learnt to pick up on the fine differences. Of course, some incarnations were older than others, or had lived rougher existences back in their home dimensions before they were thrown out into this little sub-dimension by some sort of UST or other. 

“Thought I’d find you here,” said his roommate Dean. 

“It is lunch time.” 

“Pastrami on Rye?” 

“Maybe Salmon and Rocket today,” he grinned back. 

They had been roommates ever since Policeman!Cas had put up an ad for a condo share when he was still just a new recruit. Rent in this part of the city wasn’t cheap. The Roommate AU district was the logical answer and not to be cliched or anything Policeman!Cas was immediately drawn to Escort!Dean. Sometimes he wondered if their UST would spawn off in some sub-sub-dimension, but the mere idea made his head ache. 

The bagel place was filled with patrons. The Barister!Dean worked hard on the espresso machine while Waiter!Cas and Diner!Cas worked the tables. The clientele was mixed. An accountant!Cas sat over by the window, reviewing figures on his laptop as he ate his PB&J special. While Philosopher!Cas was sitting two seats away, gazing at him vacantly. On the table next to them, CollegeAUEngineeringStudent!Dean was arguing about the non-existence of Chuck to ReligiousStudies!Cas. 

“All I’m saying is, look at this fucking world, it is so ridiculous, why would Chuck create such a thing if he did exist?” 

“Maybe he has a taste for the ridiculous, or maybe he just forgot about us. All of us incarnations swept under the carpet of the real universe, tucked away here so we don’t annoy anyone.” 

“God, you’re so bleak, remind me why I date you?” 

“You have an Endverse!Cas kink but you don’t want to cross ApocalypseWorld!Dean,” smiled Castiel cheekily. “So I’m the next best thing. I’m just pre-loss-of-faith.” 

“And you’re in my league.”

“Hardly, but I like you.” 

They trailed off into exchanges of sarcastic sweet nothings, Policeman!Cas ate his bagel with fervour. 

“You gotta swallow sometimes you know,” Escort!Dean gave him a wink over bread and lettuce. “Swallow for me, good boy.”

“I’m not repressing desire with food,” Policeman!Cas said firmly. 

“Hey, you know I did have a brief encounter with a Famine!Cas once,” Escort!Dean said with a twinkle in his eyes. “Great times, guy knows how to eat, burgers.” 

“Sure,” Policeman!Cas said, swallowing down his envy, the emotion didn’t go down well with smoked salmon and peppery salad.

After lunch, Policeman!Cas spent ten minutes of his walk berating himself about how he feels about Escort!Dean. He wasn’t going to give in to the universe. He could be a man in his own right. He didn’t need a Dean to feel complete. Maybe he did agree fundamentally with those protesters. To live life following the destiel canon was not for this Castiel. 

* * * 

In the afternoon, Castiel interviewed the hitchhiking Castiel that Librarian!Cas had mentioned. With the date of the incident provided by the witness, it wasn’t hard to get the footage from the security cameras over the high way Mechanic!Dean drove through.

It turned out to be a very average Florist!Dean who had gotten lost picking wild blooms by the side of the road. Librarian!Cas was right. All Mechanic!Dean did with Florist!Cas was pump him for information on wedding bouquets. How to make them, where to get the flowers from, whether it was worth it ordering from WeddingPlanner!Cas. 

If anything, Mechanic!Dean was completely besotted with Librarian!Cas. There had been no tryst. Jealousy was not a motive. 

That left the Supernatural district to comb through. Policeman!Cas took his cruiser down through the Alternate Universe drive, past Fantasy Boulevard. The harbour was experiencing its perpetual romantic sunset. People were strolling arm in arm. His police vehicle came to a screeching halt when a Knight!Dean resplendent in armour, waved him down. 

“He’s not waking up, I tried the one true kiss about a thousand times!” He cried. “I even pried open his mouth to check for poison apple pie but there was nothing except vomit! It was gross!” 

Policeman!Cas got out of the car and raced down toward the picturesque harbour. There, right on the beach, was a Castiel lying on the sand. His cape and tiara soaking in the swelling tide. 

“I’ve never seen that kind of vomiting,” Knight!Dean was shaking. “Down here all we ever vomit is rainbows!” 

“Prince Dean is dead,” he informed the distraught guard. “You need to inform the King and the Queen.” 

“King!Castiel will be so devestated and Queen!Dean is with child, oh sad day!” 

“Get a grip of yourself.” 

“Oh don’t say ‘grip’! When I was in that hellish plague infested town, he gripped me tight and pulled me out of predition. Then he married me against his parents wishes. How will my heart endure this loss.”

“Maybe its a stupid curse,” said a voice that made Policeman!Cas jump. 

The new arrival on the scene had snuck up in near perfect silence. He was wearing the getup of FBI!Dean but there wasn’t enough arrogance in his care worn face. 

“Hunter!Dean.” 

“Good eye, detective,” said the man crouching over the body of Prince!Castiel, prodding it gently with a stick of driftwood. “Yeah, he’s dead.” 

“Uh, look, my partner is on his honeymoon, did you want to team up on this? Could use some backup.” 

Hunter!Dean flashed a grin. “Hey, look, I would but I found my Cas three months ago.” 

He tilted his head in the direction of the boulevard, where a trench-coated Castiel was holding fake ID upside down and attempting to interview an Octopus. Hunter!Dean’s eyes softened as he smiled. “He’s an angel.” 

“So he’ll get something out of Octo!Dean then,” said Policeman!Cas. “He’s full blown angel, can read minds and talk to creatures and all that right? Handy.” 

“Oh he sure is,” Hunter!Dean slapped Policeman!Cas on the shoulder. “So you’re missing your partner heh.” 

“Oh, Policeman!Dean is not my life partner,” said Castiel. “We just work together.” 

“Huh, he hear that he’d be mad. We drink together sometimes, the guy is completely head over heels into you.” 

“That’s not possible, he’s married. He’s got his own Cas.” 

“Who?” Hunter!Dean frowned. 

“Stripper!Dean, you know the one with the tight leather pants and big arms.” 

“Can’t be,” Hunter!Dean insisted. “Stripper!Cas transitioned a year ago, he’s a PastryChef!Cas now, has a patisserie over in Omegaverse. Baker!Dean won’t open his bakery there because he’s a conservative but you know formerly Stripper!Dean’s an open minded guy and really I think he gets the gender-political subtext of that genre.” 

A web search and a video call later, Policeman!Cas’ hair was starting to standup on the back of neck. He dialled Policeman!Dean’s number but it rung out. 

“Shit,” Castiel swore. “Maybe I’ve accidentally driven into Sandover Verse or gotten into an Epic Work like DtA. None of this makes sense. What is this? A crossover?” 

Hunter!Dean looked at him sympathetically. “Messes with your head, this whole universe is, physics talk, an abomination. When you analyse it too much the whole thing unravels. Explains why Philosophy!Cas is always talking about jumping off the edge of the universe. Uh, Angel!Cas can explain it to you more, they go to the same book club and talk occasionally.”

Policeman!Cas could definitely see why Hunter!Dean was so smitten with Angel!Cas. The angel had a violent sort of innocence to him. His face was aglow with the grace beneath, Policeman!Cas had never met a more beautiful incarnation apart from that one time Godstiel showed up at the police station to ‘survey his creations’. They had to call in Demon!Dean to prevent him from smiting anyone he didn’t like. Still, he had been stunning. 

Angel!Cas listened to Hunter!Dean’s clumsy explanation about Philosopher!Cas’ theory. 

“That’s because he thinks that’s how you escape. He thinks there are other sub-dimensions once you go over. There’s a Sam land, Sam is a sibling of Dean’s in the canon-verse. The hypothesis is that Sam land is full of puppies and books, an utopia of knowledge.” 

“Sounds heretical,” Policeman!Cas said in a low voice. “A dimension where there’s not just Dean and Cas? What’s the point of that?” 

“I don’t know, diversity is the spice of life, or something,” shrugged Hunter!Dean. “You think that idea is enough to make someone kill a bunch of people?” 

Policeman!Cas looked puzzled. “What’s the theory got to do with the murders?” 

“This universe is all about brining Dean and Castiel together, because in canon verse they’ve been denied that eventuality time and again, so the dimensions can balance and don’t just rip apart from sheer frustration, we exist,” said Angel!Cas.

Policeman!Cas’ eyes lit up. “So if they kill a bonded Dean or Castiel, one that is truly in love with their soulmate, they’d create a rip in the universe. One that will allow them to cross into other universes. To Sam Land or even Canon Verse.” 

Angel!Cas nodded. “It is a very cruel idea.” 

“But who would do such a thing? The worst we have here is ... Lustiel or BisexualDemonDean. Godstiel? Leviathan!Cas? Michael!Dean?” Castiel listed off the top his head, then corrected himself. “Not Michael!Dean, he’s too fancy for that.” 

“That sounds like an awful list of witnesses to get through, especially without a partner you can trust,” Hunter!Dean said. 

“I could get some help, there is someone I know who is worldly and we get along okay.” 

* * * 

Escort!Dean opened his door, the floor of his tiny apartment was littered with typed pages. He was in the middle of his thesis. “Hey, this is a surprise.” 

“Look Dean we’ve been friends for years,” Policeman!Cas sighed. “If you can call it that.” 

“It’s alright, I know you just want to be friends because you don’t believe in the predestined destiel stuff,” Dean said gently. “But I know you love me, a little.” 

“You think we’ll end up together?” Castiel asked. 

“Yeah, now that your ‘partner’ is on vacation,” Escort!Dean pulled a face. “That guy is off the reservation. The way he looked at me that time we bumped into each other at the bar and I said hello to you, spine chilling.”

“He’s married.” 

“To a fictional Stripper!Cas. I heard from Angel!Cas in knitting club.” 

“I don’t know what’s going on there,” Castiel conceded. “But since I have an appointment in Reverse Verse tonight with Demon!Dean, I was wondering if you could come and watch my back.” 

“I’ll watch over you Cas,” Dean said with a wink. “I’ll even dress up.” 

* * *

Policeman!Cas noticed the sliver of silk above Dean’s waist band. 

“Policeman!Dean didn’t wear ... those,” he hissed as they entered the rave where Demon Dean was supposed to meet them back stage. 

“It’s a free country and I like how it feels. You’d like how it feels too. I promise.” 

Policeman!Cas looked over at Escort!Dean askance. Though he’d always been flirty he’d never been that overt before. And strangely it didn’t feel as nice as all the other occasions they had flirted. 

Demon Dean was toying with a glowstix back stage. His eyes flashed jet black and then he started laughing. 

“Well done,” he said. “Have a seat at my feet.” 

Policeman!Cas stood ramrod straight, while Escort!Dean smirked and sat down on the floor. 

“Get up,” the police officer murmured. 

“I like it down here,” was the reply. 

“Of course he does, my pet,” said Demon!Dean. 

“You’re my pet,” said the Dean on the ground. “Hey I heard you were still pining after Angel!Cas since he left you for the Hunter.” 

“I don’t have feelings,” said Demon!Dean. 

“I think we should find out.” 

Policeman!Dean drew his weapon too late. The angel blade had sunk into Demon!Dean’s heart before his killer stopped speaking. 

Nothing happened. 

“Guess he was over him,” Killer!Dean said blithely. “Damnit, should have killed your fave first, I reckon you guys are really in love.” 

Policeman!Cas blinked. Of course this was not Escort!Dean. The real Escort!Dean had been captured and this doppleganger, this criminal, had masqueraded as him. It had been easy, all the Deans had the same face. 

“That’s how you did it, pretended to be different Deans. Took them unawares.”

“My favourite were the emergency workers, Fireman!Dean, Paramedic!Dean, but of course the best mask was...” 

“Policeman!Dean,” Police!Cas said in a bleak voice. 

“Come with me, I might not be your one and only but you are mine. We can get out of here, into worlds where’s just you and me and no one else like us. We can go to Sam land and play with puppies, we can go to Bobby world and kill things all day long.” 

“You’d like that, killing,” said Policeman!Cas. “Tell me, who are you really?” 

“I think I might be Misha or maybe the other one with freckles, I don’t remember. I think I’m from French Mistake Verse. Or is it Hannibal crossover?” 

“You want to find all these worlds, but you’re lost,” Policeman!Cas said. “You don’t belong in Destieland.” 

“No,” a hand was extended, offered palm up to Policeman!Cas. “Somewhere out there is Maryland. Your real mother, not just DILF!Cas or Queen!Dean. Someone you’ve never even met.” 

Policeman!Dean swallowed. After a long moment he took the hand offered, smiling. “Where is Escort!Dean? He’s our ticket out of here. Show me.” 

Policeman!Dean pulled out his phone and showed Policeman!Cas a location on his GPS. 

“So let’s go,” said Policeman!Cas. 

As Policeman!Dean, or whoever he truly was, turned Policeman!Cas discharged his entire clip into his back. 

Policeman!Dean tumbled to the floor. 

At first Policeman!Cas thought that was that. He was already calling the station on his cell. 

“Cas,” Policeman!Dean whispered. 

Then it happened. An hairline crack in the air over his dying heart. It grew into a rip, hanging golden and wispy in the air. 

Policeman!Cas looked at it and felt pity and grief. Guess his partner really did love him, in his own twisted way. 

The rip faded with the man’s last breath. 

After freeing Escort!Dean from his holding place, Policeman!Cas looked down into his notebook and wrote “Case Closed”. Then sighed about the stack of paperwork he was going to have to file for this one. 

The End.

**Author's Note:**

> For the spncoldesthits October challenge ‘Across the Universe’ 
> 
> With thanks to Soup for inspo. 
> 
> My Tumblr: Violetlyvanilla


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